Although the BlackBerry PlayBookhasn't been received too well in North America, Research in Motion is plugging away at an global launch this summer.
An exact timeline hasn't been published, but RIM is bringing its tablet to the following 16 markets in the next 30 days: United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Australia, Venezuela, Spain, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Mexico, France, Italy, India, Indonesia and Colombia.

Pricing will likely vary by market and carrier if RIM intends to roll out the 4G editions as well when they're finally ready. RIM recently brought the Wi-Fi-only edition of the PlayBook in the U.S. to Sprint, and the 4G-enabled copies are expected to be rolled out this summer.

The PlayBook has had a rocky start since it was rolled out in the United States in April. Even though it comes with all of the advanced security standards that the BlackBerry brand is known for, it hasn't proven to be appealing to non-BB owners as it lacks a native email application. Additionally, there was that pesky recall of approximately 1,000 PlayBook units in May. Oh, and it can't play Hulu.

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive based in San Francisco, covering business and enterprise technology for ZDNet, CNET and SmartPlanet.
She has previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish Americ...
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